This invention relates to a semirigid plastic container and, more particularly, to a hanger construction on the base of such a container.
Parenteral liquid containers usually have some means at their bases for hanging them mouth downwardly when dispensing liquid to a patient. The conventional hanger for a glass bottle is a metal band secured in a groove in the bottle and a wire bail connected to that band. With the advent of plastic bottles as containers for parenteral liquids, it has been proposed to integrally form a hanger tab with the bottom wall of the plastic container as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,208,710. This hanging tab was integrally joined to a flexible web so that it could fold into a recess in the bottom wall of the container disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,215,299 and was provided with a means of retention within such a recess in U.S. Pat. No. 3,387,732.
A primary consideration in the usefulness of parenteral liquid containers is that they be substantially clear, lucid or transparent to allow for visual inspection of the purity of their contents. A semirigid plastic container having substantially the lucidity of clear glass can be made according to the process taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,228,317 entitled "Molecularly Oriented Bottle" and granted to Fred E. Wiley on Nov. 29, 1966. Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to mold an integral hanger to the otherwise satisfactory and preferred container made by the process of the U.S. Pat. No. 3,288,317 patent.
Further, a semirigid plastic container having an integral hanger molded thereon is difficult to use if that hanger is broken or removed from the container for any reason, since normally there is no means on the container by which another hanger can be attached.